The Stealing Of Intellectual Property Online (Part Two)
Posted by the Networking Goddess in General, Networking Tools, Online Networking
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What To Do When It Happens To You
1. Print out the pages that the stolen material is being used on.
2. Print out the source code of those pages.
3. Notify their ISP or their upline provider (you can do a tracert for this) about copyright infringement and tell them that if THEY do not take action within 48 hrs, you will also hold them liable for damages for copyright infringement. You will usually get a response from them on their copyright infringement policy.
4. Email the webmaster of the site the material is on. That email can contain many things. Ideas given to me on ways to handle this are listed below. Not all of these ideas will work in all situations. Decide what is best for your situation:
a. Contact the webmaster stating that stolen material appears on their site and ask for the name of the person responsible for that material.
b. Invite them to become partners. It was suggested that you say:” Thank you for expressing interest in our web site. Unfortunately, you have stolen copyrighted material from us. You can become an authorized agent reselling, selling our products. You can keep the material, but all order forms must be directed to my company. You will receive a XX% commission on all sales generated from your site.”
Give them a reference number for future contact. Should he want to get in touch again “we could find his files”.
c. Invite them to buy a license for your product or service. They could then be allowed to distribute materials of your choice, or to “lease” them (which would allow you to stop the
arrangement at any time).
d. After insisting the site owner take the materials down, demand in the same place a description of what you do and free advertising, an endorsement, a link to your site, and anything else you can think of.
e. Send them a bill for using the material.
f. Send an email with the following information.
(Reprinted courtesy of Barb Sabal):
——- Trademark Infringement Letter ——————
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing on behalf of Art a deux, Ltee., a manufacturer of greeting cards. Art a deux, Ltee. is the owner of a registered trademark for the term “My Sentiments” (No. 75/336,850 registered on August 6, 1997 with a priority date of July 8, 1997). We very much value our trademarks and would appreciate your ceasing use of the My Sentiments mark.
We found at least one use of this trademark on your site at HTTP:/ ……………………….. Please remove all instances of the My Sentiments mark from the Web pages that you manage, which also includes any instances of butterflies and dogs within the design.
We feel there is a possibility of confusion as our two companies offer the same or similar products.
We appreciate your cooperation and sensitivity to the protection of our intellectual property and would appreciate the removal of our mark(s) from your web pages by or before ………[insert date] ………….
———- End Trademark Letter——————-
———- Copyright Inclusion ——————
If you have any questions concerning our trademark, feel feel
free to contact our law firm at:
Keyser Mason Ball
201 City Centre Drive,
Mississauga, Ontario
Attn: Anthony de Fazekas
(905) 276-0418
Please also remove any instances of “art-cards.com” that you are utilizing as contact information for your own company, as this is also a copyright infringement.
As we have asked you previously over one month ago, we trust we have your full cooperation.
We appreciate your cooperation and sensitivity to the protection of our intellectual property.
————– End Copyright———————
5. Send a Certified Letter From an attorney. Keep your attorney informed of everything you do. Some pre-paid legal programs handle this as well.
6. Be proactive in your handling of this online. Should you not get satisfaction with the above actions, there are several ways to proceed.
Paul Myers offered the following suggestions:
a). Sending Notes to the infringer’s clients.
b). Blacklisting by a small group of people with control over access to publicity is another. Enough list owners refusing to deal with someone is a good start. The good list owners will go along.
What’s left? “The whiner lists.”
These avenues can be especially effective in a global marketplace and when dealing with the cases of International theft. Many people wrote expressing variations of the following, sent to me by Geoffrey Gussis:
“I am writing, however, not to commiserate but instead to encourage people to enforce their legal rights to the maximum extent possible. The only way to stem the tide of copyright infringement on the Net is to make people pay for what they take. Although the processes for registering an entire huge website with the U.S. Copyright office are complex, registering important pieces of your website can entitle you to significant advantages if someone ends up stealing your work. Copyright registration is not required; your work is protected once you have fixed it in a tangible medium. However, if you register your copyright before your work is infringed, you may be entitled to statutory damages and attorney’s fees. Registration is cheap ($20 for a literary work) and you can get the forms online.”
Be proactive, at least in protecting what is yours.
PART THREE: What Not To Do!
Nancy
Your Networking Goddess
